Anna Karenina — Chapter 73 in French
By Leo Tolstoy
Voyons maintenant quelle était la préoccupation de Lévine pendant sa conversation avec son frère. The thought that was absorbing Levin at the time of his discussion with his brother was this: the year before, having come one day to the hay-field, Levin had fallen into a passion with his overseer. L’année précédente, un jour qu’il était allé assister au fauchage il s’était fâché contre son intendant, et, pour se calmer, il avait pris la faux des mains d’un paysan et s’était mis à faucher lui-même. He had employed his favorite means of calming himself—had taken the scythe from a muzhik and begun to mow.
Ce travail l’avait tant amusé, que plusieurs fois depuis il s’y était adonné. He enjoyed the work so much that he had tried it again and again. Il avait fauché toute la prairie devant la maison, et cette année, dès le printemps, il s’était promis de se livrer à ce travail avec les paysans pendant des journées entières. He had mowed the whole of the lawn in front of his house, and this year early in the spring he had formulated a plan of spending whole days mowing with the muzhiks.
Depuis l’arrivée de son frère il s’était demandé si oui ou non il le ferait. Since his brother's arrival he had been in doubt: Should he mow or not? Il n’osait pas le laisser seul toute une journée, en outre, en agissant ainsi, il craignait d’exciter sa raillerie. He had scruples about leaving his brother alone for whole days at a time, and he was afraid that his brother would make sport of him on account of this. Mais en traversant les prés, il s’était rappelé les impressions du fauchage et avait résolu de s’y livrer, et quand la conversation avec son frère fut interrompue il se rappela de nouveau ses intentions. But as they crossed the meadow, and he recalled the impression that the mowing had made on him, he had almost made up his mind that he would mow. Maintenant, après cette désagréable discussion avec son frère, il se rappela de nouveau son projet. Now after his vexatious discussion with his brother, he again remembered his project.
« J’ai besoin d’exercice physique, pensa-t-il, autrement mon caractère s’altérera tout à fait. "I must have some physical exercise, or my character will absolutely spoil," he thought, and made up his mind to mow, no matter what his brother or his servants should say.